Institute of Performing Arts
Art & Public Policy
Anna Deavere Smith, University Professor, Department of Art and Public Policy, received the 2015 New Press Social Justice Award.
Hind Al Owais, Art & Public Policy alumna, is the first Emirati woman to be posted at the United Nations Headquarters in New York as a senior advisor since the UAE became a member of the United Nations in 1971.
The Art of Justice Conference was hosted by the Department of Art & Public Policy and Dr. Marta Moreno Vega's Caribbean Cultural Center, with support from the NYU Institute of African American Affairs, Columbia University, Tisch Initiative for Creative Research and Tisch Institute of Performing Arts.
In partnership with the Tisch Dean's Office and Initiative for Creative Research, award winning poet, Claudia Rankine addressed the Tisch first year students as a part of the school's 50th Anniversary Celebration and "Day of Community". The event was called "The Creative Imagination & Race: An Evening with Claudia Rankine". She was introduced by Anna Deavere Smith. During her October NYU visit, Ms. Rankine also participated in a more intimate dialogue with MA Arts Politics Students.
Pato Hebert — Oscillate out 'Loud': New Wells College exhibit combines camouflage, a giant word search and more. Pato also was invited to participate in La Pietra Dialogues at NYU Firenze where he presented Make No Loud Noise.
Courtney Brown, Arts Politics M.A. candidate will be performing at the ITINERANT Performance Art Festival at the Bronx Museum
Black Public Media is pleased to introduce the four-part webseries component of "Evoking the Mulatto," a transmedia project created by Arts Politics M.A. alum Lindsay C. Harris.
Art & Public Policy and UmangPoetry presented Policing Knowledge: M.M. Kalburgi, Vaccana Poetry, and Writers’ Revolts in India.
The Art of Justice: Articulating an Ethos and Aesthetic of the Movement was produced by Caribbean Cultural Center-African Diaspora Institute, the Institute of African American Affairs, the Department of Art & Public Policy, both of New York University, and the Institute for Research in African American Studies of Columbia University.
Cleo Barnet, Arts Politics M.A. candidate will be exhibiting her work Resolution 68 / 167 at the Godine Family Gallery (Boston, MA).
Screening of "Iraqi Odyssey", followed by a panel discussion featuring Art & Public Policy Professor, Dr. Ella Shohat.
Arts Politics alumna, Kate Conroy, GCFP (Class of 2011), published online by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America about the principles of the Feldenkrais Method to support queer, specifically trans, allyship
Arts Politics (class of 2011) alumna, Leah Thomas' most recent film 3 1/2 MINUTES premiered November 30th on HBO.
Dance
Sean Curran, Chair, Dance, choreographed and directed a new work called Dream'd In A Dream. It was commissioned by The Next Wave Festival at BAM and performed Oct. 7 to 10. NEA provided funding for the creation of the project.
Design for Stage & Film
Mimi Lien ‘03 (MFA, Design for Stage & Film) was named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow.
Evan Alexander, Design for Stage & Film, is currently Associate Production Designer for a new touring production for Cirque du Soleil, premiering in 2017. Work continues on The Super Bowl 50 Half-time Show, The 2016 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, The 2015 CMA Awards, Pier 17 redesign (South Street Seaport), and the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Campbell Baird, Design for Stage & Film, is currently working on costumes for the Masters Of Choreography Dance Concert at Muhelnberg College in Allentown PA, featuring works by Karole Armitage, Donald McKayle, Karen Dearborn, and several others. Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ just revived his production of ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE (scenic design) directed by Jayme McDaniel, and Nashville Ballet recently completed a run of his production of Peter Pan (scenic & costume design), and is preparing their annual production of The Nutcracker with his costume designs - both pieces choreographed by Artistic Director Paul Vasterling.
ML Geiger, Design for Stage & Film, Women’s Project Theater’s Dear Elizabeth, by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Kate Whoriskey, running until December 5.
Susan Hilferty, Chair, Design for Stage & Film, is working on the designs for Buried Child for the New Group, Familiar by Danai Gurira for Playwrights Horizon, and the sets and costumes for Richard Nelson’s three play cycle The Gabriels (Jason Ardizonne-West ’12 co-set designer). Rigoletto directed by Michael Mayer with sets by Christine Jones is returning to the Metropolitan Opera. Her designs of the sets and costumes for the adaptation of Salomé written and directed by Yaël Farber at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC., and Wicked are currently running. Susan’s work is the cover story for NYU’s Arts Digest.
Andrew Jackness, Design for Stage & Film, is currently designing NBC’s Blindspot, a standout hit among the freshman fall shows. He designed the pilot and was able to work with Jon Collins ‘08, Sia Balabanova ‘08, Marcie Mudd ‘13, and on the series worked with Alex Chrysikos ‘10, and Feli Lamenca ‘14.
Laura Jellinek, Design for Stage & Film, is in rehearsals for Marjorie Prime with Annie Kauffman at Playwrights Horizons. In the studio she is working on To Kill a Mockingbird with Eric Ting at Cincinnati Playhouse and Hamlet with Lisa Peterson at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is also starting work on The Marriage of Figaro with Jordan Fein at Curtis Opera Theatre.
Christine Jones, Design for Stage & Film, is currently designing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which will open in London in July 2015 (Brett Banakis ‘10, associate set designer and Amy Rubin ‘12, assistant designer).
Chris Muller, Design for Stage & Film, is working with his former NYU classmate Darrel Maloney on projections for two shows opening soon on Broadway, Allegiance, and On Your Feet. He is also developing projections with Driscoll Otto ’07 for Becoming Santa, a new opera for the Dallas Opera. He is creating a master plan for a redesign of the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake City. He recently completed a coloring book for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U. S. Senate, and lights and projections for A Supposedly Fun Thing and the New York Fringe. Work continues on the Robot Dictionary.
Gail Segal, Design for Stage & Film and Graduate Film, had a short film Filigrane screened at the Big Apple Film Festival, November 7th at Cinema Village East.
Robert Wierzel, Design for Stage & Film, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak. Eric Simonson, director. Washington National Opera, Appomattox by Philip Glass. Tazewell Thompson, director.
Hugh Landwehr, Design for Stage & Film, opened a production of Heartbreak House, produced by the Resident Ensemble Players at the University of Delaware, at the beginning of November. He is presently designing productions of Around The World In Eighty Days and Born Yesterday at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas.
Jeff Larson, Design for Stage and Film, has been in rehearsal with choreographer John Jasperse for his upcoming work Remains. Jeff spent the fall touring with Geoff Sobelle's "Bessie" award-winning The Object Lesson which has performances at Bard College, December 17-19. Big Dance Theater's Short Form opens at The Kitchen January 6, and Jeff is developing a new work, This Page Intentionally Left Blank, with BDT at Mass MoCA in Jan/Feb. CATCH, the Obie award-winning performance series Jeff co-curates, is back at the Invisible Dog on January 23rd.
Paul Steinberg, Design for Stage & Film, is in various stages of work on Don Giovanni and Der Rosenkavalier in London, Tristan And Isolde in Karlsruhe and Semiramide in Munich.
Robert Wierzel, Design for Stage & Film, Horizon, a new full evening dance piece with the Liz Gerring Dance Company. Choreographed by Liz Gerring; produced by Peak Performance, Jedidiah Wheeler executive director; on the campus of Montclair State University, Kasser Theatre. Another Word for Beauty, a new play with music by Jose Rivera; directed by Steve Cosson. Goodman Theatre Company, Chicago.
Drama
Faculty Highlights:
Gwendolyn Alker became the Editor of Theatre Topics in September. The national journal explores the relationship between theory and practice in the field of theatre and performance. She also welcomed the publication of her first special issue curated under her leadership: “Theatre And/As Education” acknowledges, locates, and challenges some of the divides between the fields of Theatre Education, Theatre and Performance Studies; the issue also records and analyzes cutting edge interdisciplinary work that is being done with theatre pedagogy and other fields.
Kent Gash directed The Public Theater’s production of Robert O’Hara’s new play, Barbecue. Two New Studio on Broadway alumni worked in the project, one as Assistant Director and another assisted the playwright.
Kevin Kuhlke directed a production of his adaptation of Salomé, with music by Cynthia Hopkins.
Michael McElroy was featured in Playbill's "Broadway Legacy," an exhibition celebrating African American achievement on the Great White Way.
Carol Martin's book, Theatre of the Real, was published in paperback. Martin gave a keynote address "Performing Detroit: Notes on Location Performance" at the Rethinking Political Theatre in the West conference at Tel Aviv University. Two of her students were selected as the only undergraduates to present papers at the Arthur Miller conference at the University of Michigan.
Orlando Pabotoy collaborated on two 2015 Bessie Dance Award-winning productions: I Understand Everything Better by David Neumann/ Advanced Beginner Group (Outstanding Production) and The Object Lesson by Geoff Sobelle (Outstanding Visual Design).
Louis Scheeder, Arts Professor, and Teacher Daniel Spector of the Department of Drama joined forces with the Grad Acting Alumni of Studio Tisch to present a series of scenes from Shakespeare's As You Like It in O.P. (Original Pronunciation) this past July. Scheeder and Spector directed the transcription prepared by Jennifer Geizhals, who also played Rosalind, under the supervision of renowned scholar, David Crystal. Shane Ann Younts of Grad Acting served as vocal consultant for the presentation.
Associate Professor Bob Vorlicky (TSOA Drama, Affiliate faculty, NYUAD) and Assistant Professor Debra Levine (NYUAD, Theater Program; Affiliate faculty TSOA Drama) received competitive grants from NYUAD Global to host their NYUAD students at the Kampala International Theater Festival, Uganda, Nov 27-30. During their time in Kampala, the group attended 8 productions (including those from Uganda, Kenya, Kosovo, Iraq, and Belgium), met with festival playwrights and directors, and participated in discussions with African journalists, theatre critics, and scholars.
Lisa Sokolov had a chapter published this summer in the collection, “Giving Birth to Sound: Women in Creative Music,” edited by Renate Da Rin and William Parker, and published by Buddy's Knife, Koln, Germany. In August, she taught and performed alongside renowned trauma specialists Dr. Peter Levine and Anngwyn St. Just, at the Learning Festival of Ideas in Weggis, Switzerland. The topic was Depression, Aggression and Full Aliveness.
Dell Howlett, Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway, has won the 2015 Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Choreography for his work on the Alliance Theatre’s world premiere production of The C.A. Lyons Project.
Other Drama Highlights/Achievements:
Syrian theatre director and activist, Naila al-Atrash, conducted acting and playwriting workshops with students from Drama and other TSOA departments.
Renowned Russian director Slava Dolgachev worked with third-year students in the Meisner Studio on the Chekhov Project. Dolgachev directed scenes from two of Chekhov's masterpieces, Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya, along with dramatic interpretations of several of the playwright’s short stories, An Upheaval, The Chemist's Wife, and Verotchka. The project was presented during an evening, as well as readings of several of Chekhov's letters that students worked on with Gigi in Voice & Speech class.
Tisch Drama StageWorks presented the New York premiere of Jessica Swale’s, Blue Stockings, a play set during the early years of the women’s suffrage movement. Tony Award-nominee and Drama faculty member, Michele Shay directed.
Tisch Drama (New Studio on Broadway) alumni Ben Chavez and Yianni Papadimos took home three 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival Awards for their production of The Cobalteans. At a summer ceremony, the musical received awards for Best Book, Best Lyrics, and Best Music.
Drama graduate Adrienne Eller, ’15, is playing the female lead, Phoebe D'Ysquith in the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.
Drama alumna, Ali Stoker made history in Broadway’s Spring Awakening. She became the first actor in a wheelchair to perform on Broadway.
Graduate Musical Theatre Writing
The Public Theater has announced that its winter schedule will feature the musical Southern Comfort, writtenby composer Julianne Wick Davis (Adjunct Faculty, Cycle 16) and bookwriter/lyricist Dan Collins (Cycle 16), to be directed by Thomas Caruso. Performances are scheduled to begin on February 23rd. Based on the acclaimed 2001 documentary of the same name, Southern Comfort is a folk and bluegrass-inspired musical that tells the true story of Robert Eads, a transgender man with ovarian cancer. The Public describes the show as "a celebration of redefining family and choosing love over every obstacle."
Buffalo Bella: An American Tall Tale, by Adjunct Faculty Kirsten Childs (Cycle 4), has been selected for the Sundance Lab at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Buffalo Bella is a musical tall tale that explores the African-American experience in the Old West.
Dog Days, with Book and Lyrics by Royce Vavrek (Cycle 16,) and Music by David T. Little, will receive its New York premier at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in January. The production will be directed by Robert Woodruff, with music direction by Alan Pierson, and star Obie winner John Kelly and Lauren Worsham. Based on a short story by Judy Budnitz, Dog Days tells the story of a working class family attempting to survive an imagined future war on U.S. soil.
Adjunct Faculty Deborah Brevoort (Cycle 6) has won the 2015 Liberty Live commission. Liberty Live is a partnership between Premier Stages and the Liberty Hall Museum in order to commission a new play celebrating New Jersey history. Deborah will be writing a play called My Lord, What a Night, dramatizing the night singer Marian Anderson gave a concert in Princeton and was refused a room at the Nassau Inn because she was black. Albert Einstein invited her to stay in his home instead, beginning a friendship that would last their lifetimes. The play will receive three staged readings from November 13-15th at the Liberty Hall museum, and a full production at Premiere Stages in October 2016.
The 27th annual National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals, which took place on Oct 15-16, featured Costs of Living, with Book, Music, and Lyrics by Timothy Huang (Cycle 11), and The Last Queen of Canaan, with Book by Harrison David Rivers, Music by Jacob Yandura (Cycle 20), and Lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik (Cycle 20). The festival also hosted a Songwriters Showcase that included songs from Mortality Play by Scotty Arnold and Alana Jacoby (Cycle 20), and a Songwriters Cabaret that included songs by Ty Defoe and Tidtaya Sinutoke (Cycle 22)
A new play written by Wicked librettist Winnie Holzman (Cycle 1) made its world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company in October. Called Choice, it tells the story of a successful journalist investigating a polarizing social phenomenon, “[looking] at all the layers that live inside a single choice."
In partnership with Theatre 20 in Toronto, Joseph Trefler (Cycle 23) and Landon Braverman (Cycle 22), who run the Canadian Musical Theatre Writers Collective, have launched a Canadian musical theatre writing course called Composium. The course, which runs September through May, will encourage the growth of Canadian musical theatre writers.
Costs of Living, a new musical by Timothy Huang (Cycle 11), has been honored by B-Side Productions, an arts organization dedicated to revitalizing theatrical tradition, with its inaugural New American Musical Award. The award offered Huang the opportunity to develop a work in progress in collaboration with the company’s artistic director, Jasper Grant, and dramaturg/new work director John Michael DiResta. It culminated in a three-week September workshop and the opportunity for a public performance. Inspired by an article from The New York Times, Huang’s Costs of Living tells the story of two immigrant cab drivers whose forced competition drives one of them to commit a desperate act. The show explores the marginalization of the immigrant working class, the consequences of wealth inequality, and the arbitrary nature of American prosperity.
Will Buck (Cycle 22) and Jamie Cowperthwait (Cycle 20) were named winners of the BMI Foundation's Jerry Harrington Awards for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Musical Theatre. The Jerry Harrington Awards were established in 2000 and are presented annually for the works judged “most outstanding” in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.
Brandon James Gwinn (Cycle 19) and EllaRose Chary (Cycle 19) have been selected as 2015-2016 Dramatists Guild Fellows. The Fellows Program is a nine-month intensive in New York City that brings playwrights and musical theatre writers together with experienced theatre professionals and artist mentors in order to develop full-length pieces. Founded in 2000, the Fellows Program has been instrumental to over 100 dramatists early in their careers.
Performance Studies
Masi Asare, doctoral candidate in Tisch’s Performance Studies program, has been named winner of the inaugural Billie Burke Ziegfield Award, given by The Ziegfeld Club to honor women who create new work in musical theater. Masi, a composer-lyricist, will receive a cash prize of $10,000 and mentorship from two Tony Award-winning composers and producers.
Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television
Cinema Studies
Faculty:
Marina Hassapopoulou, Visiting Assistant Professor, published an article, “Gas Her”: Deviant Paradigms of Indentification in Interactive Spectatorship in Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media.
Professor Dana Polan has been invited to deliver this year’s James Naremore Honorary Lecture at Indiana University. Professor Polan will also be serving as a judge at the 1st Tehran International Silent Film Festival in February 2016.
University Professor Bob Stam has been awarded this year’s Jim Welsh Prize for Excellence in Adaptation Studies from The Literature/Film Association.
Associate Professor Dan Streible has been invited by the Cinémathèque française to give a talk, “Digital film: an oxymoron?,” to open the 4th Festival of Restored Films, Toute la mémoire du monde (Feb 3-7, 2016), an event presented in Paris with the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).
Students:
Lukas Brasiskis (PhD) published a review, A Broad Family of Images: André Bazin on the New Media of His Time, in Issue 39 of Screening the Past.
An article written by Cinema Studies PhD student Nathaniel Brennan was published in the November 2015 issue of the film periodical, Film History. The article, titled The Great White Way and the Way of All Flesh: Metropolitan Film Culture and the Business of Film Exhibition in Times Square, 1929-1941, explores the history of the Rialto Theater in Times Square from the onset of the Depression to the American entry into World War II.
Shu-Wen Lin (MIAP) presented on preserving and representing artists' intentions through interactive virtual reality for the Archives and Architecture Symposium hosted by New York's Archivists Round Table in October 2015.
Rochelle Miller (PhD) and Jonathan Farbowitz (MIAP) received a grant to research the fifty year history of Tisch in celebration of the anniversary.
Harper Shalloe (BA) was named a Humanities Undergraduate Fellow by the NYU Center for the Humanities.
Jaap Verheul (PhD) received a Cultuurfondsbeurs, a cultural grant, from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, a Dutch endowment that supports individuals in the arts and humanities.
Alumni:
R. Bruce Brasell (PhD 2000) has had his book, The Possible South: Documentary Film and the Limitations of Biraciality, published by the University Press of Mississippi.
Siobhan Hagan (MIAP 2015) was appointed to be the Video Archivist for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. Siobhan is also starting her term on the Board of Directors for the Association of Moving Image Archivists.
Genevieve Havemeyer-King (MIAP 2015) and Carmel Curtis (MIAP 2015) were named Fellows as part of the National Digital Stewardship Residency program, an initiative to cultivate professionals who will advance our nation’s capabilities in managing, preserving, and making accessible the digital record of human achievement. Their fellowships are taking place at the Wildlife Conservation Society and Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Genevieve Havemeyer-King (MIAP 2015), Michael Grant (MIAP 2015), Ethan Gates (MIAP 2015), and Peter Oleksik (MIAP 2009) collaborated with La MaMa Experimental Theater Club to digitize a video collection documenting Off Off Broadway productions in the years 1972-1980. They presented on this work during New York Archives week.
Brittany Holzherr (BA 2012) has been named an Assistant Editor at DC Comics.
Michelle Kelley (PhD 2015) is the Post-Doc Fellow in the Film and Media Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis.
Negeen Yazdi (MA 2002) has been promoted to President of International Production at the Weinstein Company.
Ben Olin (PhD 2014) has had his dissertation, Underground Networks: Artists' Television in New York 1973-1986, accepted for publication by Intellect Books, distributed by Columbia University Press.
Wyatt Phillips (PhD 2013) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Texas Tech University.
Allison Whalen (MIAP 2015) presented on audio archiving and restoration issues as part of the Audio Engineering Society Conference in October 2015.
Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing
Alumni:
Amit Ahraf Udhao - US premiere of play Runaway
Kimberly Barrante - Screenplay Ceritas selected as a finalist for the Hollywood Blacklist
Fernanda Coppel – Play King Liz being developed by Showtime
Lauren Gundeson - among American Theater’s top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights in America 15-16
Rajiv Joseph - Play Guards at the Taj produced in world premiere
Jeremy Kamps - Play Gutting produced at National Black Theater
Lucas Hnath (also adjunct faculty) - Play The Christians produced by Playwrights Horizons, awarded the $10,000 National Arts Club’s Kesselring Prize; one of 6 finalists for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award
Chisa Hutchinson – Play Dead and Breathing produced at National Black Theater
Neil LaBute - Play 10k featured at 59e59’s Summer Shorts Festival; play The Way We Get By produced at Second Stage Theatre
Matthew McInerney-Lacombe – Screenplay Spring Offensive acquired by Fox
Phyllis Nagy - Won the New York Film Critics Circle award for best screenplay for Carol
Marco Ramirez – Play The Royale produced at American Theater Company
Sharyn Rothstein – Play By the Water produced by Manhattan Theater Club and Ars Nova
Joshua Saffron - Created the ABC-TV drama Quantico
Anne Washburn – Play Mr Burns, a post-electric play, among American Theare’s top 10 most-produced plays of 2015-2016
Steve Yockey - among American Therater’s top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights in America 15-16
Peter Zinn - Chosen as 1 of 8 winning 2016 National MFA Playwrights for Theater Masters for his play Lilly
Current Students:
Mark Gerrard - Play Steve produced Off-Broadway by the New Group
Staff:
Patricia Ione Lloyd - Featured in the Public Theater’s 2015 emerging writers group
Faculty:
William Electric Black - Published the children’s book A Gun is Not Fun
Halley Feiffer – Play I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard produced by Atlantic Theater Company; play Tipping Points produced by Sweet Chaos Theater Project
Daniel Goldfarb (also alum) – Librettist for Piece of My Heart, musical produced Off-Broadway to be produced on Broadway in 2016-17; play Legacy produced by Williamstown Theater Festival
Lisa Kron – Won 2 Tonys for Fun Home (book and lyrics)
Suzan-Lori Parks – Received the Lillian Gish Prize; 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Father Comes Home from the Wars
Carol Rocamora - Play I Take Your Hand in Mine being produced in China, Italy and Spain
Julian Sheppard – Cowrote film Complete Unknown premiering at Sundance Film Festival
Richard Wesley - Play Autumn produced by Crossroads Theatre Compan
Grad Film
Artistic Director and Professor Spike Lee won an honorary Academy Award for his body of work and premiered his new film Chi-Raq
Beasts of No Nation, directed by alumnus Cary Fukunga, premiered to wide critical acclaim on Netflix and in theaters around the nation in October, was awarded the NBR Freedom of Expression Award, and has been nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead, Best Supporting Male and Best Cinematography. It also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Idris Elba
Wiener-Dog by Professor Todd Solondz and Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall by Professor Spike Lee will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016
Alumnus Jonas Carpignano’s Mediterranea won the Golden Pyramid at the Cairo International Film Festival, Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards, Best Directorial Debut from the National Board of Review, is nominated for Best First Feature and Best Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards and was a finalist for the LUX Prize. The film was picked up by IFC Midnight and has had a theatrical release, garnering critical acclaim
Beasts of No Nation and Son of Saul were picked as the Critics’ Favorites at the Telluride Film Festival and their directors, Alumni Cary Fukunaga and Laszlo Nemes, were selected as the Best Directors as well
Equity, written by Professor Amy Fox and shot by Alumnus Eric Linn, has been selected for Sundance 2016’s U.S. Dramatic Competition
Alumnus Darius Clark Monroe’s “Dirt”, and thesis student Asantewaa Prempeh’s “Jungle” were selected for the Sundance 2016 U.S. Narrative Short Films program
Student Elnura Osmonalieva’s 2nd year film “Seide” was selected for the Sundance 2016 International Narrative Short Films program as well as the Clermont-Ferrand 38th International Short Film Festival
How To Tell You’re A Douchebag, produced by student Julius Pryor IV & alumnus Martisse Hill, has been selected for the Sundance 2016 Next program
Three of five Best First Feature nominees at the Independent Spirit Awards are recent Grad Film alums: Alumni Chloe Zhao and Mollye Asher for Songs My Brothers Taught Me, alumni Josef Kubota Wladyka and Elena for Manos Sucias, and Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea
Alumnus Kiel Adrian Scott won a DGA Student Film Award for his thesis film “Samaria,” which was also a 2015 Student Academy Award Finalist
Adjunct Professor Erica Reed Marker was awarded the Sundance Institute’s 2015 Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellowship
Student Joshua James Richards won the award for Best Cinematography Debut at the Camerimage International Film Festival for the Art of Cinematography, Best Cinematography at BendFilm Festival, and is nominated for Best Cinematography at the Independent Spirit Awards for his work on Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Shawn Snyder was the recipient of a $100,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award 2015-16 for his project, “To Dust”
Student Molly Gandour’s documentary “Peanut Gallery” and student Ben Kallam’s short “Red Folder” have been selected for Slamdance 2016
Alumni Sarah-Violet Bliss’ and Charles Rogers' new TV series Search Party was picked up by TBS
Student Samuel Grandchamp’s film "Le Barrage" won the Golden Leopard for Best Short Film at the Locarno International Film Festival
Alumni Laszlo Nemes, Leah Meyerhoff, Michael Larnell, and Nisha Ganatra were named in IndieWire’s “20 Directors to watch”
Alumni Seith Mann and Nicole Kassell made IndieWire’s “25 Best Directors Working in TV Today” list
Alumnus Joey Kuhn’s feature Those People won the Audience Award for Best First U.S. Feature Film at this year’s Outfest, and was acquired by Wolfe Releasing for 2016 distribution
Student Jacqueline Dow’s Spotify commercial 'Music Everywhere' was short-listed at the 2015 Porsche Awards in Germany
Student Alik Barsoumian received a 2015-16 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship
Alumni Yared Zeleke and Laszlo Nemes were nominated by their home countries for Best Foreign Language Oscar
Alumnae Maryann Brandon edited Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Students Reinaldo Marcus Green and Jonas Carpignano were named finalists for the San Francisco Film Society / Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants
Alumnae Pamela Romanowsky was chosen as one of the 2015-2016 Women at Sundance Fellows
Alumnae Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe In Unicorns was released on Netflix
Alumnus Laszlo Nemes’s Son of Saul is nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards and was awarded the Best Foreign Language Film Award by the National Board of Review
Alumni Martha Coolidge, Debra Granik, Maryam Keshavarz, Julia Loktev, and Dee Rees made Vulture’s “100 Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring” list
Student John Ryan Johnson won First Prize for the Test Commercial category at the Young Director Awards
Tisch Asia alumni Emmanuel Ossei-Kuffour won the Best Short Award and the award for "the film with the greatest social impact to inspire change"; and Christopher Loanzon won the Best Writer Award at the NBC Universal Short Film Festival
Student Ines Gowland’s short “Latiner” won Best Film 2015 in the Official Latino Short Film Festival
Student Myrsini Aristidou’s “Semele” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival
Student Brooke Goldfinch’s “Red Rover” premiered at the Austin Film Festival
Alumni Gabrielle Demeestere (writer/director), Chananun Chotrungroj (DP), and Shruti Ganguly’s (Producer) Yosemite was acquired by Monterey Media and will be released theatrically in early 2016
Student Harry Cepka's short “Golden Teachers” premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival
Almnus Cary Fukunaga and Student Elizabeth Nichols won Princess Grace Awards
Undergrad Film & Television
Awards - Students:
New Visions and Voices:
1st Prize: GALLERO by Andreas Hadjipateras
2nd Prize: BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT by Sachin Dharwadker
3rd Prize: EXCELLENT COFFEE by Barak Barkan
Audience Award: FOR EILEEN, WHEREVER YOU MAY BE by Taylor Gonzalez
Faculty Commendation in Narrative: SORE EYES by Evan Wood
Craft Award in Adaptation: HALCYON SUMMER by David Fu
Sight and Sound Showcase - Viewer's Choice Award Winners 2015
Documentary – The Voyage, Directed by Nadia Gilbert
Filmmaking – Emma Stone, Directed by Will Thede
Studio - Raxter, Directed by Ethan Bleach
Awards - Alumni:
Independent Spirit Award Nominees
Anomalisa, written and directed by alumnus Charlie Kaufman, received three nominations: Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Tangerine, co-written and directed by alumnus Sean Baker, received four nominations: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), and Best Supporting Female (Mya Taylor).
James White, written and directed by Josh Mond, produced by fellow alums Antonio Campos and Sean Durkin, received three nominations: Best First Feature, Best Male Lead (Christopher Abbott) and Best Supporting Female (Cynthia Nixon).
Several other alumni were also nominated. Reed Morano received a Best Cinematography nod for Meadowland. Both Felix Thompson and Chloe Zhao are up for the Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award (for the films King Jack and Songs My Brothers Taught Me, respectively).
Gotham Awards
Tangerine, which was co-written and directed by UGFTV alum Sean Baker received three nominations: Best Feature, and two nominations for Breakthrough Actor for co-stars Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Mya Taylor took home the Breakthrough Actor trophy. Tangerinewas co-written with UGFTV alum Chris Bergoch.
James White, written and directed by UGFTV alum Josh Mond, received two nominations: the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award and Best Male Lead (Christopher Abbott). James White was produced with fellow UGFTV alums Antonio Campos and Sean Durkin.
Achievements - Alumni:
Alumnus Andy Samberg (UGFTV, 2000) hosted the 2015 Emmy Awards
Alumnus Colin Trevorrow (UGFTV, 1998), director of Jurrassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed, was announced as the director of the final installment of the new Star Warstrilogy.
Alumnus Jon Watts (UGFTV, 2004) was announced as the director of the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.
Faculty Awards, Accomplishments, Achievements:
Jim Brown produced and directed Free To Rock about cultural diplomacy and rock and roll during the Cold War which will have it's premier at a US Congressional screening at the Capital Theater on November 18th.
John Canemaker is curating a large exhibition for the Walt Disney Family Museum, opening in May 2016. In December, John will be featured in Behind the Magic: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for ABC Television
Peter Chatmon was selected as one of fifteen directing fellows for Sony Pictures Television's Diverse Directors Program.
Yemane Demissie will be a fellow at the American Academy in Berlin during the Spring 2016 semester.
Alice Elliott was an invited presenter at The Arc National Conference in Indianapolis with short film ACTIVATE HERE! for self-advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Q Film, produced by Lynn McVeigh and directed by Alice screened three times at the ReelAbilities Film Festival in Boston.
Lewis Erskine was elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, documentary branch.
Joe Gilford received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant for playwriting. His new book Why Does the Screenwriter Cross the Road? is available online and in bookstores.
Jocelyn Gonzales was the lead technical presenter at a three day multimedia workshop for Feed In Two Worlds bringing together authors, podcasters, bloggers, photographers, and filmmakers focused on pitching and producing stories about food and immigration.
Janet Grillo's film Jack of the Red Hearts went to several festivals, including the Montreal Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, and the Golden Door Film Festival.
Jason Hwang was the sound designer and music composer for "Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion,' an exhibition at the NY Historical Society. As a jazz composer/violinist, Jason also received a grant from US Artists International to bring Burning Bridge, his octet of Chinese and Western instruments, to the Festival Internationale de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Canada.
Stevin Azo Michels coordinated a screening for World Aids Day, December 1st, on monitors in and around TSOA. This is in coordination with Day Without Art and VisualAIDS.org. This project marks the 25th anniversary of his Day Without Art screening in the NYU's windows on Gould Plaza.
Antonio Monda completed his first term as Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival.
Manoshi Chitra Neogy's book, Blood Words / A Warrior Walk, will be published by International Publications Media Group, based in New York City.
Lynne Sachs and her co-director Lizzie Olesker, who also teaches at Tisch in the playwriting program, received an Honored Finalist Award from the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition for their project Every Fold Matters. Their project also received a Best Narrative Film award from the Workers Unite Film Festival, as well as funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and Fandor.com.
Joe Pichirallo is an Executive Producer on an upcoming ABC miniseries about Bernie Madoff, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner.
Shira-Lee Shalit has been named Associate Artistic Director of the Barefoot Theatre Company.
Sylvia Sichel is a co-producer of #HORROR, Tara Subkoff's directorial debut. The film stars, Chloe Sevigny, Taryn Manning, Timothy Hutton and Natasha Lyonne. It was released by IFC Midnight on November 20th.
Enid Zentelis was named an NBC-Universal Directing Fellow for the 2015-2016 season. Enid also taught a master class on screenwriting at the Tribeca Institute for Film Fatales members, a collective of established and up-and-coming female writer/directors.
Emerging Media
ITP
Published works:
ITP Student Work, The Sentient Surveillance Camera, featured in Motherboard
ITP Alumni Work featured on Mocada, September 2015
ITP Alum Alon Chitayat featured on FITC, October 2015
ITP Alum Anthony Ptak and son Aedan featured on Upworthy: "Meet the father-son duo sharing their disability experiences through art." October 2015
ITP Professor Dan Shiffman interviewed for CodeNewbies Podcast, December 2015
ITP Professor Marina Zurkow's new work featured in Medium and on Eyebeam, December 2015
Awards:
ITP Student Ziv Schneider is Finalist for 2015 Innovation by Design Award for her project the Museum of Stolen Art, September 2015
Honors:
ITP Alum Lina Maria Giraldo won a NEFA Creative City Grant, October 2015
Achievements:
ITP at Makerfaire NYC 2015, September 2015
ITP at Annual Media Lab Summit, September 2015
ITP at Open Hardware Summit 2015, September 201
ITP Alum featured in Abstracted Visions Group Show, September 2015
ITP Alum featured in 23rd Annual Push/Play Group Show, September 2015
ITP at IDFA DocLab 2015, November 2015
ITP Alums featured in Test Patterns show at Flux Factory, December 2015
NYU Game Center
James Marion's (MFA 2015) thesis game Peter Panic was picked up by publisher Adult Swim for a winter release
Winnie Song (MFA 2015) released her thesis game, Bad Blood
Kenny Sun (Tandon BS 2015) released his incubator game Circa Infinity
MFAs Maxim Kolbowski-Frampton (2014), Ben Poland (2016) and Pierre Depaz (2015) released Brooklyn 1776
Awards:
Winnie Song (MFA 2015) Bad Blood - Indiecade Festival 2015 - Audience Choice Award
Naomi Clark (faculty) Consentacle - Indiecade Festival 2015 - Impact Award
Leandro Ribiero (MFA 2015) Ninja Tag - PAX 10 Selection
Stephen Clark (MFA 2014) Rooftop Cop - Independent Game Festival - Nuovo Award, Student Festival Finalist
Alec Thomson (MFA 2015) and Jenny Jiao Hsia (BFA 2016) Stellar Smooch - Independent Game Festival - Student Festival Finalist
Atlas Chen (MFA 2014) and Nick Zhang (MFA 2014) Gemini - Independent Game Festival - Student Festival Finalist
Achievements:
Faculty member Clara Fernandez-Vara curated Gamescape at the New York Film Festival.
Faculty member Eric Zimmerman's installation Starry Heavens was on exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Toni Pizza (MFA 2014) is co-chairing the upcoming Indiecade East festival
Photography & Imaging
Recent Exhibitions:
In the Collection, an exhibition of the department’s archives, Sept. 10- Nov. 10.
“Unlocking a Treasure Chest From the Past,” NYU Arts Digest [#02 Fall 2015]
Twilight Children, Chris Berntsen, 2015 Tierney Fellowship Exhibition, Dec. 3-Jan. 16
Faculty Awards and Achievements:
Caitlin Berrigan received a Dean's Grant in support of production and dissemination fees related to the publication of Imaginary Explosions.
Kalia M. Brooks curated “Windows on the City: Looking Out at Gracie’s New York” at Gracie Mansion Conservancy
Isolde Brielmaier guest curated “Reverb: Past, Present and Future” at the Contemporary Arts Center
Iliana Cepero was interviewed in ICP - “Cuba, Cuba! - Interview with curator Dr. Iliana Cepero on Cuban identity between the Soviet Union and the USA”, co-curated the exhibition, “Cuba: Art and History from 1868 to Today” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Thomas Drysdale gave a gallery talk at The Grey Gallery, as part of the "For a New World to Come" exhibition of Japanese photography from the 1970s
Sean Fader received the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Residency and the Bemis Center For the Arts Winter Residency, and will be showing his work at Denny Gallery, LES, NYC, PICTURE YOURSELF: Selfies, Cellphones, and the Digital Age, and the College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM), Wooster, OH
Ariel Goldberg received the Allen Room Research Fellowship at the New York Public Library in July of 2015 to finalize her book of criticism The Estrangement Principle, to be published June 2016 by Nightboat Books. She also gave a reading at Creative Time in the Adult Contemporary Series in October 2015 and continues to give readings to promote her first book of poetry The Photographer (Roof Books, 2015) Ariel curated and hosted the Fall 2015 Friday Night Series at the Poetry Project, where she has been a part of their curatorial team for three years
The British Museum has obtained and is using Mark Jenkinson’s photograph, of the Sphinx, in a permanent exhibition in their Egyptian Sculpture Gallery. The Museum of Design in Zurich is using an architectural photograph of Mark Jenkinson’s in an exhibit and catalogue entitled "Animated Wonderworlds" September 4, 2015 - January 10, 2016. The Museum of Chinese in America hired Mark Jenkinson to photograph the buildings of architect Poy Gum Lee to illustrate their exhibition about him. September 24, 2015 - March 27, 2016. Lincoln Center is now using Mark Jenkinson’s photographs as the lead images their Tumblr and FaceBook pages. Mark Jenkinson signed a contract with Pearson Education to produce images and video, and oversee their image research team, for 4 Sociology Project textbooks to be produced in the next 18 months. The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral had Mark Jenkinson photograph the 200th Anniversary of the Archdiocese of NY. One of the images is the main one on their FaceBook page, and they are using others in a variety of places.
Elizabeth Kilroy designed and developed a new one-year certificate program at The International Center of Photography exploring the intersection of engaged photography and technology. She is now the Chair of this program, New Media Narratives.
Editha Mesina received a 2015 Dean's Grant to work on a collaborative exhibition project with Tisch DPI Seniors and students at FAMU, Czech Republic.
Lorie Novak had several exhibitions: Intimate Archives: Connective Histories, Columbia University Neiman Gallery, NY, September 2015, On Re-Staging, Photoville, Brooklyn, NY, September 2015, Reverb, computer-based projection, Beyond Survival: Livelihood Strategies for Refugees in the Middle East, conference, Cornell University, November 2015. Lorie Novak participated in Photography Restaged, Photoville, Brooklyn, NY; a panel with artist Lori Nix, Lorie Novak and Rose DeSiano, moderated critic and curator Saul Ostrow about contemporary photographers practices of “Re-Staging”, September 2015. Lorie Novak participated in an artists ‘roundtable in conjunction with exhibition Intimate Archives: Connective Histories. Conversation with artists Susan Meiselas, Lorie Novak, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Aylin Tekiner, and curator Isin Onol. Moderated by Carol Becker, September 2015. Lorie Novak was a visiting Artist – Parsons MFA Photography Program, Lecture and critiques – July 2015. Lorie Novak attended the Imagining America national conference in Baltimore, MD, October 2015. Lorie Novak was the photographer for the Praque Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, June, 2015, Prague, CZ. Lorie Novak’s photographs were published in USC Dornslife magazine (accompanied Through the Lens, essays by Geoff Dyer and Kate Flint, p.32). Lorie Novak’s work was published and discussed in Uncertain Histories by Kate Palmer Albers, University of California Press, 2015
Joseph Rodriguez published “‘Sometimes the Camera is More Powerful than the Courtroom’ Criminal justice through the lens of Joseph Rodriguez,” The Marshall Project, July 7, 2015. Joseph Rodriguez’s work was featured in “Turning Puerto Rico's Lament into Hope” NY Times Opinion Exposures section August 21, 2015 and in “Recalling Romania’s Revolution” NY Times LENS, January 22, 2015. He started a new project in Puerto Rico focus its Economy and exhibited “Mi Gente: Spanish Harlem in the 80s” at Hi-Arts, NYC
Bayete Ross Smith attended Book Release/Opening Reception and Conversation at Aperture Magazine for Question Bridge: Black Males in America, 12/7/14
Deborah Willis recently published Introduction, “America’s Lens” in Double Exposure: Through the African American Lens, Smithsonian Institution, National African American Museum of History and Culture, Smithsonian Press, 2015, and Question Bridge: Black Males in America, Aperture Foundation, 2015. Deborah was recently awarded as a Humanities Fellow 2015-16 in the Center for the Humanities for research on book on C. M. Battey 20th Century African American Photographer. Her recent exhibitions include Photoville, Brooklyn, NY, September 2015, We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA, September 26, 2015 - January 24, 2016, On Being Black in America, Arnika Dawkins Gallery, Atlanta, GA October, 2015, and Reframing Beauty, Prizm Art Fair, Art Basel Miami, December 2015. Deborah was a panelist and chair for Writing about the Peabody Museum Daguerretotypes: An Interdisciplinary Interrogation, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University and a panelist for Women Mobilizing Women Workshop, Columbia University, New York. She moderated the 25th Anniversary Panel for the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, and was a featured Speaker for Black Panther Party and the History of Social Movements, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, The Colors of Photography, University of Zurich, Switzerland, and The Photography of Mickalene Thomas, Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA.
Paul T. Owen Exhibition: Two person show: Selections of Photographs from Rural Life from 1980s. Callacoon Trading. September 15 – December 30, 2015. This fall, Paul traveled to San Miguel Talia de Castro, a remote town in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, recorded 16 interviews and numerous traditional events particular to the town.
Special Programs
Awards:
Student films from Tisch Havana and Prague programs win awards at New Visions and Voices Festival:
1st prize winner, Gallero by Andreas Hadjipateras – Havana, Documentary Video Production, Spring 2015
2nd prize winner, Breathe Out by Sachin Dharwadker – Paris, Experimental Production Workshop, Summer 2015
Achievements:
New Sydney Spring 2016 Program, in collaboration with the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).
Dr. Roy Kendall, course director and teacher for the Advanced Playwriting Program in London, wrote a new play to mark the 400-year anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare in 2016. The play, The First Folio, covers the events leading up to the decision to create a collection of the Bard’s work, organize its publication and the compiling of what became known as the First Folio by Shakespeare’s friends and fellow actors – John Heminge and Henry Condell. Dr. Kendall also had a rehearsed reading of his play The Onion at the End at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington, one of the most exciting Fringe theatres in London.
Adrian Fernandez opened his solo show "Notes About the Perfect Man"in November. he project based on imagery found in Cuban 20th century postage stamps, panning different periods of Cuba's life as a nation, his different social projects, ideologies and paradigms.
Prague Alumni Reunion - On Friday, November 6, Tisch School of the Arts, the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), and the Czech Center New York hosted the first reunion for all alumni of the Prague 35mm Directing and Filmmaking program. Participants of the Tisch program in Prague dating back to 1998 came together to screen student films and to mark the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.
Ellis Jones is currently an understudy for the play The Father written by French playwright Florion Zeller. The show plays at the Wyndhams Theatre, considered one of the most beautiful “jewel box” theatres in London. Since 2009 Ellis Jones has been a lecturer and consultant for the Tisch London programs. He is an actor and director, and former Vice Principal and Head of Acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Ellis teaches the course Theatre in London every fall and spring as part of the Shakespeare in Performance at RADA program.
The award-winning documentary Tocando la Luz (Touch the Light), produced by Havana faculty Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger, had its New York premier on Sunday, November 15 at DOC NYC. DOC NYC ran November 12-19 and is considered America’s largest documentary festival. Tocando la Luz (Touch the Light) follows three blind women through their daily lives and struggles in Cuba as they look for personal independence. In April the film premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival where it won the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award. Most recently in August the film had its European premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh where it won an award for Best International Feature Documentary. Visit the Red Antelope Filmswebsite for more about the film. Jennifer Redfearn, who directed the film, and Tim Metzger, will teach Documentary Video Production in Havana in spring 2016.
On Monday, September 28 Tisch School of the Arts, Office of Special Programs and The Center of Global Affairs in conjunction with the CGA Gender Working Group and NYU Law Women, screened the film India’s Daughter, a documentary directed by Leslee Udwin. Leslee held a conversation with the audience following the screening. Students from Tisch, NYU Law, and SPS Global Affairs attended the event.
Open Arts
Open Arts welcomed 4th graders from PS3 to work with Tisch students from Dance, Drama, Graduate Acting, and Graduate Musical Theatre Writing.
Rob Benevides, Open Arts faculty member, welcomed students from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut for a set of Halloween-themed projects in special effects makeup.
Walter Murch, Three-time Academy Award winner Walter Murch stopped by Tisch in October to pay a visit to his namesake Open Arts course Portrait of an Artist: Walter Murch taught by Brane Zivkovic.
Angela Pietropinto, Open Arts faculty member, was recently at the Milan International Film Festival on behalf of the film ALCHEMY, which won Best Cinematography for a Short Film.